The exhibition focuses on the concept of “dual use” and explores the dual—civilian and military—uses of goods, technologies, and knowledge.
Approximately twelve installations and exhibits by five artists address the questions underlying the dual-use issue: freedom, security, control, surveillance, militarization, and peace. These potentials—both beneficial and harmful—are brought to life through the interplay of art, technology, and social analysis.
The artists explore the applications of dual-use principles in digital technologies within modern warfare and in states that are acting in increasingly autocratic ways. At the same time, the exhibition addresses the current discourse on dual use at research institutions and universities, as well as the historically entangled power structures that shape these institutions.
In this context, the exhibition focuses in particular on protests, activism, and counterstrategies.
The result is a multimedia visual landscape that confronts increasing militarization, algorithmic control, exploitation, and mass surveillance with protest, peace movements, and solidarity.
The works will be on view from October 26 to November 1, 2026, at The YARD Gallery in Hamburg, Eimsbüttel. The collaboration with the artists emerged from the student research group “Critical Agile Methodology” at the University of Hamburg, which was funded as part of the federal and state governments’ Strategy of Excellence.
